Nano Farms; Produce Delivery Service Review

A coworker told me about Nano Farms, a produce delivery service, based out of Summerton, SC.  There is no commitment, no contract, and no strings attached. For a flat $35 fee, you choose 8 items from a long list of locally grown produce, and they deliver your basket to your home or work on designated days.

They currently only operate a Facebook page -- every Saturday they list the items that they will have for delivery the following week.  They also indicate which items are grown organically, and from which farms they come from.  A few items are available from NC and Georgia.  To order, either post a comment under the list, or you can send them a Private Message (PM.)  Payment is through PayPal, although I believe they take checks.  Don't quote me on that, LOL!

You may also add on additional items for an additional fee, such as a dozen local eggs, SC honey, boiled peanuts, etc.

I must say, we have not had such delicious and fresh fruits and vegetables since we had a garden of our own. (We are working out plans for a convenient place to build a fenced-off "goat proof" garden for next Spring, including irrigation.)  Hopefully we will be able to grow enough to participate in the program as sellers. Also, when our newest pullets begin laying in <2 months, we should be able to start selling them our eggs.


Back to the baskets; below are baskets that we have ordered:

Week one

Week two, with added on honey from Pelion, SC

Week 3 -- weighed it, a tiny bit over 20 lb.

Rear side of Week 3

Week 3, removed from the basket. Huge patty pan squashes!  

 The collards were rinsed, chopped, and cooked for several hours with vinegar, bacon and onions -- the kids LOVED them and asked us to make them again!  The kids said, "Hey!  These have FLAVOR!"

Look at the size of that!!

Week 3, a whole gallon bag of green beans

Week 4

I decided to make pickled beets and dilly beans for Father's Day -- see above, after the beets were boiled in the pickling solution.  I used a Pyrex dish as a cutting board to remove the roots and stems instead of a wooden cutting board ... easily rinsed clean with no staining.  Note: wear gloves when handling beets!

Beet greens

Normally beet greens are tossed -- but I thought, well, people eat collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens, why not beet greens?  I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed the sand from these greens, chopped them, and quickly sauteed them in a skillet with a little butter and garlic just like spinach.  They were so, so good!!!  Yummy!  We loved them!  We wished there were more!!!  

Oh, wait.  In the morning we discovered why we shouldn't eat beet greens.  Let's just say that we had upset tummies and leave it at that.  Next time the goats and chickens will get the beet greens.  

Lesson learned.  

Week 5 (delivered June 7)

This week we have a gallon bag of green beans, yellow squash (double order), a watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peaches (also a double order.)

Last weekend I made a version of Sally's mom's (Ms. Robbie) recipe for Squash Casserole.  At first, everyone was like, "Oh, great, squash casserole."  Then they tried it.  Woo Hoo!  They loved it and we're having it again this weekend!  It's creamy, cheesy (added goat cheese to the called-for cheddar), and has a crunchy topping of buttery toasted breadcrumbs.

We will be slicing the cukes to add to our never-ending refrigerator pickles, and at Ben's request, we will grill the peaches and serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I'm happy to say that as long as Nano Farms continues, we'll keep ordering.  We don't order every week, just when we need to.  Also, I give them back their baskets to re-use, to keep their costs down.

• I love it that there's no commitment.  
• I love it because I don't have to wonder where these veggies and fruit came from -- Guatemala? Costa Rica?  California?  This produce wasn't picked weeks ago when under-ripe and transported across land and sea to get to a warehouse, then delivered to the grocery store. 
• I love it that this produce lasts!!  I don't have to rush to use it up in fear that it will go bad! We're not tossing anything! (Probably saves money, if we think about it.)
• I love it that we can choose organic items if we want. 
• I love it that we don't have to fight the crowds and crazy parking situations at the Summerville or Charleston Farmer's Market. 
• I love this service because with a traditional Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), you prepay the farmer for his planting season's work and you don't know what you may or may not receive in return and you have to pick it up from the farm or designated sites.
• I love it that they deliver!!!

Side note, St. George does have a "Farmer's Market" on Thursdays from 3-6 pm.  The times I have been I have only seen craft vendors, someone selling kettle popcorn, and others selling house plants and vegetable seedlings.

Father's Day sneak peek of pickled beets and dilly beans! Two more weeks left to pickle....